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© 2017 Dr Kamalipour, Hesam, Informal settlements are one of the critical challenges across cities of the global South where urban informality emerges and grows as a self-organised type of urbanism outside the control of the state. With few exceptions, the demolition and replacement of informal settlements with formal developments is generally unsuccessful. A sophisticated understanding of the morphologies and incremental transformations of these settlements is then crucial for effective processes of upgrading. Drawing on three case studies in the cities of Bangkok (Thailand), Medellin (Colombia) and Pune (India), this research explores how the morphologies, adaptations and codes of urban informality work in informal settlements. Using comparative mappings, it investigates building densities, functional mixes, access networks and public/private interfaces at the micro scale and documents the relations between formal and informal morphologies at the city scale. It also demonstrates the different ways in which informal settlements become visible to the gaze of the formal city. The thesis reveals both differences and similarities in informal morphologies and increments of change. The research provides a better understanding of the capacities of informal settlements to engage in upgrading processes.